Free hippy cross stitch bookmark - and my first pattern for sale.

I have made some hippy patterns. One is a bookmark you are welcome to use, as usual, for free. I am not sure the colours show up well enough, the idea is that the letters of the word "Love" are in a strong colour and the background motifs in nice pastel shades.



In honour of the European Day of Languages, which is today, 26th September, I made a bigger version in many languages. This one is not a free pattern however, I offer it for sale. It costs 4 Euros.
I haven´t got round to creating a separate webshop yet but I am planning to soon. Until then it is very simple: you pay me in PayPal (benceagi@yahoo.com) and I e-mail you the pattern.
If you happen to want another language included, I can make the change - in that case the price is 5 Euros.

Here is a picture:




I hope you like them. Happy stitching. :)

New knitting WIP

As I was at home with a really bad backache, had to stay in bed quite a lot, and in a position that made stitching difficult, I started a new knitting project. The yarn I bought in a loppis (something like a garage sale) not long ago, very cheap. It is half wool and half acrylic. So I am making a long vest for myself for winter.



I am making it, as most of my knitted things, without a pattern, as it comes. I started in the middle, or rather under the breasts, with a row of a different coloured yarn, then knitted top down, circularly. As I want it to be as long as possible, but wasn´t sure how long the yarn would let me go, I stopped now, that´s why there are needles in the bottom row, took out the starting row and started to knit upwards. The back is about half done, I am not sure how I will make the front yet. And I want a wide crocheted edge all around, but again, not sure what pattern I will use. If the yarn is not enough, I might go for another colour for the edges, but I would prefer to keep it one colour, this way it can be worn with more different clothes under it.


This is the bottom part. The pattern goes almost diagonally, I hope it will look nice after blocking. (By the way, does anyone know a good method for blocking circular knitting?)




And this is the top:



It is really exciting, not knowing what it will turn into and experimenting with different patterns and methods. Cross your fingers for me that the yarn is enough :)

Blackwork sampler - part 3 - I have finished it.

I am so glad, I got some really nice feedback about the blackwork sampler, although noone had time to stitch it right now. I, however, could not stop myself, I enjoyed stitching it so much. I almost forgot how much I like blackwork.

So first, here is the second part finished:




I am giving you the third and final part now:



The first lines are herringbone stitches.

And this is what it looks like in my version:



And finally, a picture of the whole. I finished the sides with hemstitching, this was the first time I did it, and it went quite well. I was so proud of myself. When I was all finished, I realised that I miscounted somehow and on one side the margin I left was wider than on the other. So had to frog it, cut it and re-stitch again, but that didn´t turn out so well because I had to fold it on the line of the previous withdrawn threads, and became a bit wobbly. I am not very happy about it but there is not much I can do about it now. It will teach me not to be too proud of myself. :-/

Black and gold pincushion side 2 - free cross stitch pattern

Someone asked me for this pattern, sorry it took me so long to draw, but finally here it is:



The middle is empty for a button or embellishment.

pincushion

I made a pincushion out of the black-gold pattern I stitched a while back. For the other side, I improvised a variation of the pattern, will draw it and post it soon.
I am sure it would look good as a biscornu, too.

Blackwork sampler - part 2

Hi, Friends,

Due to a terrible backache I have to stay at home and lie in bed almost all day. :( Not the best thing at the beginning of the school year. But that means I have time for knitting and stitching.

I have stitched the first part of the blackwork sampler, so I am publishing the second part. As you can see, I have already done one line of that part, too.



The grey area is the overlap between the first and second parts.



Happy stitching everyone. :)

Cross stitched buttons - photo tutorial

Hello, stitchy friends :)

I was repairing a cushion that was torn, and the buttons were also missing. So I made some. Here is how.

The cushion looked like this:



Then I did this:





The white buttons were used with their rounded half outside. I stitched a running stitch around them and pulled it tight.



These are the buttons at the front:



and the back:



The back is quite messy but it doesn´t matter if you sew them on a cushion that is pulled together in the middle. If you want to use similar buttons on a flat surface, you should buy a button-making kit. I have never tried them but would love to.

And the final result:





I have also started stitching the blackwork sampler. Half of part 1 is done. It is good that I tried it out because again I noticed a mistake. When you draw a repetitive pattern, it is done with copy and paste, and it is so easy to go one or two stitches off. I have put up the corrected version but I am not 100% happy with it, I should have realised it earlier. But this is how it will stay for me - if you want, you can make adjustment on the black zigzag line, so it is centered. Or tell me if you want it, I can draw another version.

I am using DMC 310 and 221 on a lovely light green hand died linen. Unfortunately, in the photo the fabric doesn´t show. Sorry about the hoop marks, I ironed it but they will not disappear properly until I wash it.



Is there anyone stitching it?

Some more news about myself: here in Sweden it is almost like autumn, at least like autumn at home. We have been picking mushrooms and bilberries.






I hope, dear friends, that you are all well and been stitching/knitting/crocheting happily. Hope to see you soon. :)